Seomun Market

Kelly, you might find Seomun Market similar to the Russian Market in Cambodia.
Seomun Market, a massive outdoor market filled with food, clothes, spices, fruit, scooters, nuts and dried fruit.  Practically anything you need you can get at Seomon.
As you can see it is very congested and dirty.

As I have mentioned before my side of the river, where I live is considered to be the rich part of Daegu. While the other side is primarily filled with the hard working, older generations. This side of the river is different in look and smell. Everything is much older and more run down, significantly poorer.

FYI, those are dried Cockroaches on the upper left...yuck!
I recently went on a field trip to the Botanical Gardens with my school. I will upload those pictures soon.
I miss and love you all. Please pray for me :)  

xoxoxo
Laura

I Love my Sweets!!!

You already know my love for sweets, and those intense cravings I get. Well, not even Korea could change that. One day I was craving some Cupcakes! And look what I found.

Gotta love it! Everything in Korea that is related to kids, clothing accessories and or sweets will be created with such cuteness. The blueberry flavored cupcakes are my favorite :)

Yummy Downtown Food

I don't care much for traditional Korean food. With the exception of noodles, rice dishes and some of their sweets.


The more americanized restaurants on the other had are amazing.

Like these delicious pizzas and salads. The pizza here are like gourmet pizzas. They are amazing, so yummy and packed with flavor!

These are what we call "pizza in a cup". There little baby pizzas that a women makes on the street. She then places it in a paper cup for you to go. Supper cheap $1 and tasty.

 

The Downtown Life!

Hi guys~

I have done a lot, and taken several pictures over the last 2 weeks. Thought I would include you in some of the glory. That's Callie and Richard sitting next to me. My roomates in my apartment building and Co teachers. They are a dating couple and arrived together. Actually Richard just left. He was so miserable here in Korea, he broke contract and returned home. Callie will join at the end of November.

For those reading this in LA, you will find that these next few pictures are crazy and yet amazing at the same time!

      

Nighttime 

These are what we call "Bag Drinks". There these amazing cocktails placed in a tall Ziploc Bag, with a straw to drink from. It's crazy that on a hot day-or any day you can walk around with these as you shop etc.. They are so refreshing and cheap. The entire bag is 4, 000 Won. Which in US = aprox $3.75 The place where you get them is called the "The Vineroo" There is a full blown menu with hundreds of cocktail choices. Pretty cool! 

It's difficult to take pictures of the streets at night due to it being so bright and lit up on the weekends. But as you can see its quiet packed and colorful. 

Day time-

Are you seeing what I'm seeing right now..? Are those guys offering free hugs?? Yup! You are seeing correctly. These guys stand there and pass out free hugs. They are usually promoting a website and business. 

Its totally weird, I was crackin up when I first saw that. I suppose if your having a bad day this might just lift your spirits :)

Here is a friend of mine, here name is Cam getting a free hug!

Gyeongju- Temple Visit!

    

Hi guys,
Thought you might like to see some pics from this beautiful temple I visited, while on the singles retreat.
If you only knew how HOT this day was!! We were drenched in our own sweat....Yuck

This temple is several thousands of years old. Some areas are off-limits, and photography is forbidden due to the delicate hand paintings and woodcarving. Enjoy!

Welcome to KOREA

HI EVERYONE! 
Sorry for the delay in getting this blog up and running, it's been a bit crazy. I'll get right to it, needless to say Korea is a bit "Hellish" unfortunately. It's not at all what I expected, well not entirely at least.

This country and culture is the most shut off- isolated- and none inclusive culture, that I have ever encountered. This goes without saying, but I have always considered myself as someone who's very interested and educated in various cultures. But this one you guys (Korean) takes the cake.

It's been slightly over 1 month now. The city is beyond hot for those of you who live in Los Angeles, the weather would be scorching to you...lol. Daegu is actually shaped like a giant bowl and it's encased by lush mountains. Similar to a valley, all the heat sinks to the bottom of the city. The humidity if off the charts as well.

I'll try to take some more pictures of this-but the city is full of these communist gray apartment towers. That's as awe- inspiring as the architecture gets. Aside from the hot weather and boring streets, it's the people and the culture that make it so difficult for foreigners to live in Korea. Me and the other foreign teachers can't go anywhere with out literally getting stared down, and laughed at. Korean culture says "If we don't know you, we don't respect you". So shoving and pushing while your walking is just standard here. No one will stop to say excuse me.

Ironically enough I do actually enjoy teaching the children. Some of them are just to die for, sooo cute! But unfortunately the negativity of this country is also brought out through them. Though I don't blame them for the racism or lack of exposure and education. It's entirely the parents fault. But laughing at curly hair, or the color of the foreign teachers skin is normal. They actually ask you "teacher why this (as they point to your arm) why you look like that"? It can really be heart breaking, to se how socially closed off they are.

My school is private, so everything is for "show".  It's like a puppet show, everything is done to appease the parents. You see in Korea there are literally thousands of English school institutions. One parent is informed that their child is to wild or misbehaved, they'll pull their child out of the school. There is NO other reason except it's their PRIDE. This means that no true issues actually get addresses. The Korean and foreign teachers are overworked. I actually have been spared this...for the most part. We start school a 10:00 am and don't usually get home until 8:00pm. The longer I'm at school the more shady things I notice. But what can I, in some ways am stuck. The foreign teachers that are my roommates we live in the same building, are breaking contract. One will be leaving in 4 days, he only lasted 3 months. And the rest will leave in December.

As for me I have been doing a lot of soul searching trying to figure out where and what God wants me to do. This job came as a back up plan due to the lack of design jobs in LA. I plan on staying in Korea at least 6 months. Of course I change my mind every other day, thinking I can't even last that long. It will allow me to save some money and prepare for where I will go next. I decided it will be one of three choices, either Spain- Barcelona and or Italy (Teach English for 6 months) or back to LA. It really depends on the job I find. If a design job opens up in LA that's where I will go. THAT'S WHAT I REALLY WANT.

The church here is nice. There are only 14 singles, all of which speak completely broken English or none at all. There are three married women who speak fluent English.  It's difficult though, they have a family to attend to. I can't just call up a single friend and say "hey lets catch a movie". They won't understand I word I am saying.

I'm trying to make the best of it while staying close to God and my honey Joel, its difficult though. I'm currently working on my online portfolio. Included are my modeling images, design work and more. Its' really coming a long. The next blog entry won't be nearly as long! This was the first one so I am trying to catch every body up to speed. Pray for me, as prayer is greatly needed. 
I love you all and miss you tons.

Stay tuned for my new site!!

xoxoxooxx,
L